A vibrant but uneven glimpse at a captivating culture.
A memoir describes life as an American stay-at-home dad in India.
When Buford (Making Ghosts Dance, 2017) and his wife, Dana, took State Department exams in hopes of qualifying to become Foreign Service officers, she passed the tests easily. Dana was offered a position as vice consul at the American consulate in Chennai, so the couple and their 3-year-old son, Cole, headed to India for a two-year adventure on Jan. 1, 2000. This breezy collection of anecdotes—complete with some photographs of family, friends, and places—paints a vivid picture of their lives in Chennai. In the beginning, Buford experienced a serious case of culture shock: The river was polluted; poor people aggressively begged for money; and, sick of eating Indian food, he was happy to find a KFC in Bangalore while working for Dell. As time passed, he befriended Indians, including his chauffeur, Dinesh, and came to love their good nature. But the best things that happened during the family’s stay were the birth of another son and their adoption of a beautiful Indian baby named Theekshana (they called her Nina). Buford’s fluid prose is sometimes slowed by eye-glazing details, like what he ate for breakfast on the morning of his Foreign Service exams. His anecdotes of becoming a stay-at-home dad are touching, though less-fortunate parents may roll their eyes at the “difficulties” he faced—supplied with servants, he didn’t have to cook, clean, do yardwork, or even drive. Mostly friendly and lighthearted, Buford’s humor can be tongue-in-cheek. For example, when describing his move back to America, he laments: “Instead of lavish houseboat parties on Lake Travis or events where a Michael Dell stunt-double fast-ropes from a helicopter, we now have to pay for our own donuts; it is thoroughly depressing.” Readers who are considering Foreign Service work for the American government may find some helpful tidbits of information here, such as the decision-making process that led to Dana’s assignment in Chennai.
A vibrant but uneven glimpse at a captivating culture.Pub Date: July 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9993028-1-1
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Moontower Press
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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